Eddie Howe reveals what he did after Lewis Hall’s England blow

Thomas Tuchel omitted Newcastle United's Lewis Hall from his final World Cup squad to the surprise of every Toon fan.

Hall had been one of Newcastle's better players in a difficult season, and many pundits backed him to be on the plane to North America this summer, with many even backing him to be the obvious choice for the left-back spot.

Instead, the German manager opted not to take Hall and take Nico O'Reilly as the only out-and-out left back. Djed Spence of Tottenham is his other option, as well as Tino Livramento, both of whom are right-backs who can play on the left if needed.

It was a call that had a lot of people baffled. Thomas Tuchel tried to justify Spence's inclusion by praising his pace and defensive abilities, but we still think he dropped the ball with this call.

Eddie Howe reached out to Lewis Hall right away

Eddie Howe spoke to The Chronicle about the aftermath when Hall learned that he'd not been selected. Howe said he felt for Hall and wanted to make sure he was okay and wouldn't be affected long term.

"My reaction to that was feeling for Lewis. To support him and talk to him and help him really.

"He is an outstanding player, he is so young and he's got such a lot of his career ahead of him. You don't want it to have a negative impact.

"I don't think it will, I think he is very strong mentally. It was a big disappointment for him."

Thomas Tuchel can't win with us

We really hope this decision doesn't come back to bite England. Although Hall's exclusion wasn't the only eyebrow-raising call that has the potential to spectacularly backfire.

Thomas Tuchel is either going to be hailed a genius or laughed out of St George's Park this summer. If it's the latter, we're pretty sure Lewis Hall's name will be mentioned many times when his metaphorical obituary is written.

Even if England does well at the World Cup, we'll still feel he made a mistake not taking Hall. He doesn't get off that easily.